


Always

by onlyhereforellick



Series: Fictober ‘19 [8]
Category: NCIS
Genre: F/M, post s16, spoilers? for s17
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-28 00:08:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20957198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onlyhereforellick/pseuds/onlyhereforellick
Summary: And he sealed that promise with a kiss that seared them both to the very core.





	Always

**Author's Note:**

> fictober 19; prompt 8: “Can you stay?”
> 
> prequels: Tell Her & Pineapple

Gibbs had gotten back from his unplugged break with a spring in his step. Once again, Nick refused to think about why. It was hard not to though when Jack walked off the elevator with the most satisfied smile on her face, the fact that it matched Gibbs’ wasn’t lost on him. 

_ Clearly Rule 12 didn’t apply anymore _ , Nick thought wryly with a twinge of hope. 

Bishop still wasn’t back yet; the items on her desk remained untouched—don’t ask him why he noticed that, though, he would deny it wholeheartedly. He’d been counting down the days till her return and he could finally tell her. Tell her everything he’d been repressing for the past few months, tell her it all. And still, he waited. 

What he hadn’t expected was to be blindsided by the sight of her in Kasie’s lab. Head bent over the table, so focused on whatever she was working on her tongue was sticking out just the tiniest bit. But that wasn’t what stopped him mid-sentence as he walked in greeting Kasie, no it was watching the tantalizing motion of her hips moving to the pulsing beat. His blood pounded in his ears, and not because Kasie had the volume and unsafe levels. It took all his might to keep the blood up there and not rushing to other places less welcome at the moment. As if he was in a trance he noticed next to nothing around him until the quick motion of Ellie flinging her hands behind her back snapped him out of it. All of his attention was now on what he could not see. Clearly it had to be important for her to be so flustered by his surprise appearance. 

To be honest, Nick felt a little flustered himself. He wasn’t expecting this run-in with Ellie, he had already thought out everything he was going to say...when she got off the elevator. Not this accidental pop in with an audience. Overcome with the flood of anxiety and emotions of finally seeing her again, he reverted to what he did best, teasing her. He may have laid it on a little thick, but let’s just say overcompensation was a real thing when you were trying to figure out how to tell the woman you love just that, that you love her. Nick didn’t do this, ever. 

But he could tease, “Whatcha got there, Bishop? Something fun? Something naughty? Something gooood?” He started to descend on her, and in response she subconsciously started to back away. 

This was too resisting to pass up, “Is it for me? Is it, is it, is it?” He continued to press until she was out of room to run. 

What came over him to literally pounce on her, he was unsure. But pounce he did. Wrapping himself around her, he grabbed her wrists to get a look at this mysterious package...and immediately froze. 

_ There’s no way. She didn’t, she couldn’t have. These- these were past repair. She didn’t. But she did...for him?  _

He had to confirm his suspicions, “Ellieeee...is this what I think it is?”

He felt her confirmation more than he heard it as her voice vibrates against his chest. An errant thought drifted through his mind:  _ could she feel how fast his heart was beating, all for her?  _

He needed clarification, “Are these- are these Reeves sunglasses?” The emotion of it all getting caught in his throat. His voice tightened with shock, with grief, with love. 

She gave him the smallest of nods and hope blossomed in his chest. Maybe his feelings would be reciprocated, maybe this would go over a million times better than he expected. 

He pulled back just slightly to see her face. Words were hard to come by, but he tried anyways, “Did you-, how did-, You did this for me?”

In a quiet voice, almost like she wasn’t sure about her gesture, she answered him, “I uh-, I knew a guy. I knew how much they meant to you.”

The implication of her words spoke volumes. She used precious personal days to do this for him, to give this irreplaceable gift to him. Nick was speechless. “I-, I don’t know what to say. Holy shit, Ellie, I might just kiss you.”

The words slipped out so naturally he hadn’t even noticed...at first. That was until Ellie was suddenly staring at him intently, almost as if she was trying to see deep beneath the walls he put up, staring at him with  _ hope, maybe?  _ His pulse kicked into high gear yet his breathing slowed as he realized the underlying meaning to his words, how desperately he wanted to do just that. The air crackled with emotion and electricity as they stood, just staring. Until, Kasie.

“Oh for the love of- just do it already!” Kasie cried out with mock frustration, gesturing her hands around to emphasize her point. “I can’t take it anymore! This ain’t weird air, it’s sex air, and y’all need to do something about it.”

The moment Kasie said sex air, something shifted in Nick. That’s not what he wanted. This was not just lust to him, and he hesitated.  _ Is that what this was to Ellie? I mean...she didn’t go to him for things, she didn’t seem to trust him, he wasn’t her type, he wasn’t stable. Was this just a simple attraction to her? _ Before he was able to come to and reason with himself that no, this had to be more, she was gone. Yanked her hand away from him and took off. He didn’t even hear what she yelled over her shoulder. And he was left staring at the sunglasses in his hands, wondering why...

She must have picked up on the hesitation in his eyes, but she didn’t understand why it was there. There’s no way she knew he hesitated because he was terrified of her rejection. Terrified she would shatter his heart; he was new to this. He’d loved once before, but he was practically a baby then compared to now—this was different, this was real. 

Kasie interrupted his thoughts, “Yo, Nick. Earth to Nick! You gonna just stand there? Or are you gonna go fight for her?” Quieting a bit she continued on, “Tell her Nick, tell her all of it. She deserves to know where you stand, and I think you’ll be surprised to find she’s standing right there next to you.”

His mouth refused to work so he just nodded tightly as he turned on his heel to track her down. He had a feeling he knew where she went...

———

He tracked her down to the basement of her apartment building painting, hair thrown half up in a bun, old paint-stained button down on, headphones in and playing something obviously good by the way those damn hips were moving. Getting momentarily sidetracked, or ogling as some might call it, Nick refocused and cleated his throat to try and get her attention gently. 

Nothing. 

He tried again.

A little bob of the bun and circle of the hips in response. 

This time he tried to lightly tap her shoulder, and boy was that a mistake. He was flipped on his ass faster than he’d ever seen her do that before. 

“Nick!! What are you doing here?! Oh my god, are you okay??” Ellie asked in rapid succession frantically after ripping out her headphones and kneeling at his side. 

It took him a second to reply after having the wind knocked out of him, but leaning up on an elbow he finally choked out, “Damn, someone’s been taking classes.”

A slight blush crept up her neck at his observation, but Ellie deflected, “you scared the crap out of me, Nick. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be fine. Just a bruised ego, that’s all,” he replied as he started to stand while brushing off his pants. 

He watched her walls go up after she got confirmation he was okay. Arms now crossed in front of her she leaned on her back heel, almost as if closing herself off and trying to memoir as much distance as possible between them. But he had seen it, he had seen the genuine concern that flooded her expression when she realized it was him. She cared. This wasn’t just lust, this was something deeper and he fully intended to find out just how deep. 

“Ellie—“

“Why are you here, Nick.” It was more a statement than a question. 

“Because I know I like you, and I think I love you.” He’d put it out there, he knew he had to be direct from the start or they’d end up right back where they were in Kasie’s lab. 

Ellie opened her mouth to say something and then closed it like she was unsure. Her one arm fell to her side as she continued to clutch the opposite elbow. He took the slight relaxing in posture to be improvement. 

Time to get to the root of the matter: “Ellie I hesitated in Kasie’s lab because the moment she said sex air I had an immediate fear you’d reject me—“

Immediately she jumped to protest, but he held up a hand to stop her. 

“Look, who am I to you? I’m not smart. I’m not artistic. I don’t like nerd things. I’ve never had real relationships. I’m not your type. And yet, that hasn’t stopped me from falling for you. When you left this past week there was this huge hole in my life and my heart that I didn’t realize you filled until you were gone. Ziva’s told me, McGee’s told me, Kasie’s told me, and now I’m finally listening to them. I think I love you, Eleanor Bishop. And I hope to hell you feel the same way.” He finished what he had to say and then he waited. It was the hardest thing he’d had to do, even after 8 years of undercover work, shutting up and waiting on pins and needles to know if she loved him back was the hardest thing he’d ever done. 

A small sniffle escaped her as she released her grip on her elbow and closed the small space between them as she took his hands in hers. “Of course I do, dummy. Why else would I spend the last six months figuring out how to fix a pair of sunglasses you think are ugly?” She shook her head and a light chuckle fell from her lips. “Nicholas Torres, I think I love you too. Even if  _I’m_ not  _your_ type either.”

A smile broke out l as he pulled a hand up to the side of her face and laced his fingers through her hair, caressing her cheek with his roughened thumb. In a low voice he tore down the last of the crumbling walls surrounding his heart as he confessed to her, “the last time I slept in a woman’s bed was yours way back when. I made a vow that night I’d never wake in another woman’s bed till it was yours again.”

He heard her sharp intake of breath as he watched her eyes widen and pupils dilate. The realization spreading across her face as the meaning of his words sunk in.

At no louder than a whisper, he went on, “Ellie, ask me. Ask me to stay.”

Never wavering from his gaze, she complied, whispering herself, “Can you stay? Nick, stay with me.”

“Always.” 

And he sealed that promise with a kiss that seared them both to the very core. 


End file.
